After the phenomenal success of the romantic comedy "The Wedding Singer," Adam Sandler is back again with this comically crafted tale of a sweetly naive Bayou-born waterboy who turns out to be a raging powerhouse on the football field

After the phenomenal success of the romantic comedy "The
Wedding Singer," Adam Sandler is back again with this comically
crafted tale of a sweetly naive Bayou-born waterboy who turns
out to be a raging powerhouse on the football field.

Sandler, who has established himself internationally as an actor,
comedian, singer, and songwriter, is involved in virtually all
aspects of his films. He gets plenty of help from his longtime
friends and collaborators Frank Coraci, Jack Giarraputo, and Tim
Herlihy, who first met Sandler at New York University. Together
they have gone on to work on several projects, including "The
Wedding Singer," "Happy Gilmore," and "Bulletproof."

"Adam Sandler is one of the hardest-working people I have
ever met," says Director Frank Coraci. "But the way
he works is, he makes it fun. His days are filled with work and
play, and they are the same thing. You're having fun when you're
sitting there coming up with the script ideas or talking about
the movie. We're goofing around, making each other laugh, and
then saying: 'Hey, let's write that down. That's a great idea!'"

The casting of Kathy Bates, who won the Best Actress Academy Award®
for her portrayal of the deranged captor in "Misery,"
as Bobby Boucher's severely neurotic mama was a dream come true
for the filmmakers.

"I think an important element in comedy is that you have
to come out of reality," explains Coraci. "Even though
Kathy portrays this strange woman, her performance is from someplace
real. She's not trying to be funny. She's trying to be that character.
And in doing so, she'll make choices about how she grabs something
or how she says a line. It's from a real place, but that's what
makes it funny."

The filmmakers, acutely aware of the importance of casting seasoned
actors who know instinctively how far to push the envelope in
comedy without compromising reality, looked again to their "wish
list" when casting the beleaguered Coach Klein.

Henry Winkler was cast as Coach Klein -- the incompetent leader
of one of the worst teams in college football history.

"There are actual players," laughs Winkler about his
fictitious team. "The team has one ball. The kicker has to
pretend when he practices that he's actually kicking the ball,
because the offense and defense cannot practice at the same time.
We have jerseys that are moth-eaten. We know when we take the
field that we will lose, and we live with it. Even the cheerleaders
have succumbed to the sorry plight of this team by resorting to
getting inebriated at every humiliating game."

Coach Klein is on the verge of a nervous breakdown when the seemingly
mild-mannered Bobby walks into his office and offers to work for
free as a waterboy. Because Coach Klein has nothing to lose, he
allows Bobby to act as waterboy for the Mud Dogs. The sentiments
of the Mud Dogs football players, however, are initially not as
charitable.

Jonathan Loughran, who portrays the Mud Dogs' cross-eyed linebacker,
Lyle, explains: "When Bobby comes in, we don't want him on
the team. Bobby's a little goofy, and we're not used to guys like
that. We're afraid this guy is going to make us look bad. But
then we realize we've lost 41 games in a row, so we're not looking
that good anyway. Eventually, we find out that he's a really good